


For beryl or worse

by EmilyArmadillo



Category: Leverage
Genre: (just in the sense that fusions have extra limbs), Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Gems (Steven Universe), Body Horror, Canon Rewrite, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gem Corruption, Gem Fusion, Gem/Human Relationships, Hurt Alec Hardison, Hurt Nathan Ford, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Multi, Protective Eliot Spencer, Team as Family, The Brew Pub, canonical fake character death, hurt Sophie Devereaux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:49:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyArmadillo/pseuds/EmilyArmadillo
Summary: The story of four criminal gems and one honest human.
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer, Sophie Devereaux/Nathan Ford
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	For beryl or worse

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU gems arrived on earth about 115 years ago, and have been living alongside humans ever since. I imagine gems to make up about 5% of the population, which would make them about twice as common as humans with red hair.

"Gems I got. What I need is one honest human to watch them."

* * *

Pargasite hangs upside down from the scaffolding. She seems to spend no small amount of her time this way. She summoned the rigging lines that hold her from her gem, and based on how relaxed she is, they have her complete confidence. Hardystonite thinks that if he had his gem on his forehead like Par does, he wouldn't be comfortable upside down no matter how magical the rope holding him up. Raising his eyebrows, he offers her the box of comm units. She takes one and pulls back up onto the scaffolding.

"That's a bad idea," the third gem on the roof says to Hardyston, referring to flirtation with Par.

"Well don't you know best, Mr. Elio-mope," Hardyston retorts. "I don't even know what you do." Heliotrope glares as he puts in one of the earpieces. He wears gloves, but in the close quarters Hardyston can see the outline of Elio's gem on the palm of his right hand. The outer shape is round, like most quartzes. 

"Guys listen up," Nate says, "we're going on my count, not a second sooner. Pargasite, no freelancing." Elio takes issue with Nate's overly professional tone, but Nate pretends not to hear him, and starts to count down from five.

"Oh, the human doesn't want to be our pal," Hardyston observes. Nate frowns as he gets to _three_. Par jumps off the roof.

"That's twenty grams of crazy in a five carat gem," Elio says as he and Hardyston watch her fall. Hardyston looks like he's clutching his hand over his heart; really, he's clutching his gem.

Despite Hardyston's anxiety, Par ends up hanging safely outside an office window and cutting her way inside. She climbs in the hole easily, and dispels her rigging with a wave of her hand. She monitors the security room while the boys enter the elevator shaft.

On top of the elevator, Elio crosses his arms impatiently as Hardyston pulls up a panel to expose some wires. Hardyston pulls down the front of his tee shirt enough to expose the whitish trapezoid in the middle of his chest, and from the gem summons his own wire, which glows with a pale light. He strips one of the elevator's wires with a pair of pliers from his jacket pocket, then wraps his wire around the copper string he's exposed. The other end of his wire disappears into his gem.

"You know Hardyston anytime you want to-" Elio's voice breaks off as the elevator starts to move, dropping away under their feet.

"Got it," Hardyston says unnecessarily. He dispels his wire and replacing the elevator panel.

On the target floor, Hardyston connects himself to the server room door's security device in much the same way. "Ten digit password," he says, his eyes unfocused and giving off light. "I salute you sir." Elio stands by him, listening over comms to Par and Nate realizing that the guards are on their way.

Nate makes the call. "Elio, what I want you to do is clear the zone and use Hardystonite as bait."

Hardyston protests as Elio conceals himself. "I know you ain't talking about me, I ain't nobody's bait." He fingers his wire anxiously, thinking about disconnecting it but not wanting to lose his progress. "Come on, come on, come on," he encourages himself as he continues to navigate the passcode mechanism.

"Hold it right there."

Hardyston startles at the sound of the guard's voice, raises his hands above his head although he's still connected to the door, still hacking. He needn't have bothered. Elio comes up behind the two guards and knocks them both out within seconds, without ever summoning his gem weapon.

"That's what I do," he says. At the same time, Hardyston unlocks the door. They enter the server room.

From there it's easy to strip the airplane designs from the system and copy them onto a flashdrive. Elio ties up the guards. Hardyston spikes the system. They seem to have succeeded, until Par tells them the alarms on the roof have been reset.

Nate tells them to hold it together. "Get to the elevator and head down," he tells them. "We're going to the burn scam." In the descending elevator, the three gems shapeshift their clothes to business suits in preparation for backup Plan G.

"How many plans do we have? Is there, like, a Plan M?"

"Yeah," Nate says. "Hardyston gets dispelled in Plan M."

"I like Plan M," Elio says.

Hardyston glares at him. "If I get dispelled back to my gem y'all better pick me up," he huffs.

Elio ignores him, kneeling down to put a brace on Par's leg. Par frowns in concentration as she shapeshifts again, adding burn scars to her face and a wrap-around bandage that covers the gem on her forehead. The effect, along with some fake tears, is enough to get them past the lobby guards and into the getaway car. The heist is a success.

Dubenich should have paid them.

Not getting paid makes tensions high when they meet in the warehouse. Hardyston's summoned his weapon, a taser, and Par holds her rigging as a whip. Nate nearly gets them used on him when he comes in, hungover and laughing. Despite how he's acting, they all get out of the warehouse more or less safely. Nate even gets them out of the hospital. And when they decide to get back at Dubenich, he introduces them to the worst or best actor they have ever seen.

* * *

It almost seems like they'll be able to exchange the ransom, save the mom, and get everyone out of the bank safely until Judge Roy lunges for Michael's gun. The Judge and the boy fight over the weapon, fingers dangerously close to the trigger. Of course, it goes off. The bullet strikes Nate.

Sophie shrieks his name as he falls, catches him in her arms. He groans.

"Nate, talk to me," Sophie pleads. Unfortunately for her, the mark has ended up with the gun.

"I heard what you called him. Nate. You guys are trying to rip me off!" The Judge accuses. The older bank robber, Michael's father, tries to explain, but Judge Roy isn't having it. Sophie ignores them both.

Nate's become less responsive, his eyes unfocused and his breath gasping. Sophie leans over him and begins to cry. Like any good actress, she can bring on tears intentionally. But there's something else special about these.

The tears fall on Nate's forehead and seem to absorb into his skin, leaving behind a slight sparkle. The magic seems to know where to go. His breaths get steadier. The blood from his wound slows its oozing until Sophie and Nate no longer need to press on it. Nate blinks.

"Thank you," he says quietly.

Judge Roy as returned his attention to them, now holding both guns. "You're kidding me. You're a fucking gem, too. Well, just because your magic alien powers have healed him once, won't stop me from shooting him again. Now, where is my damn briefcase?"

He gets his briefcase back eventually, but with crystal meth inside to get him arrested. Once the cops have walked Judge Roy away, the team loads into an ambulance, with Hardyston driving. Nate only needs a little support to walk into it himself, and lie down on the gurney.

"It can't be serious," Par says, taking off the FBI cap she'd been using to hide her gem.

"It was," Nate corrects. Elio removes Nate's bloody shirt. The wound seems to agree with Nate- it looks bad. But it also looks like it happened days ago. Par is watching, and furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't understand," she says.

"I healed him," Sophie explains.

"Did a nice job of it," Elio says evenly. Par's eyes are wide.

"Sophie's a gem?" she exclaims.

"Sophie's a what-now?" Hardyston adds from the front seat.

Sophie smiles. "Yes, Par," she says, "I'm a gem." She pulls her hair over one shoulder and uses the opposite hand to pull down the back of her shirt, showing off the clear, square crystal between her shoulder blades.

"But you're Sophie," Par protests.

"Sophie's not my real name. You know that."

"But… what kind of gem is that?" Par asks. Nate laughs, and Elio tells him to keep still. Sophie covers her gem back up, smiles at Par, and winks.

* * *

It's a simple job: find the money. Or, it would have been simple, if Nate's team didn't get so invested in Maria Moscone's wedding.

"How are we doing? How's the search?" he demands.

Elio's chopping vegetables. His gem is uncovered on his hand, which is unusual, and even more unusual, he's summoned his weapon. The knife he's using for the onions has a blade of dark green flecked with red, just like the gem of which it is a construct.

"I haven't started yet," Elio tells Nate, without even looking up. He defends himself when this annoys Nate. "I've got 200 people I got to feed, all right? Back off." Nate looks at the magic knife Elio holds between them, but neither comments on it. Elio returns to his task, until the mother of the bride, Heather, comes in for a taste test.

Elio's stuffed mushrooms don't go over well. Heather spits it out, complaining, "I want high-end food! This isn't high-end!" She gives Nate a dirty look. "A gem as a chef." She shakes her head as she walks away. "Making food and they don't even eat!"

Nate stops Elio from going after her. Elio sighs and dispels his knife.

"Just find the money," Nate reminds him.

A few hours later, Hardyston comes to bother Elio in the same kitchen.

Hardyston shakes his head. "No way in hell I could ever imagine getting married. I mean, it's just - It's just a piece of paper." It's not an uncommon opinion among gems- marriage is a human tradition, and not exactly aligned with gems' concept of intimacy. Hardyston tries to gauge Elio's reaction. "I take it you've never been married," he prompts. "Ever come close?"

"There was a girl I knew. But anyway, she married somebody else, so."

"Human girl?"

"Yeah."

"You ever been with another gem?"

"I'm busy, Hardyston!"

Thus dismissed, Hardyston goes to find Par. She's in one of the bedrooms, adjusting a bridesmaid's dress on herself.

"Zip," she says when she sees Hardyston, pointing to the zipper. He zips it up for her. "A bridesmaid's dress is like an all-access pass at a wedding," she explains at Hardyston's confusion. "Plus, I kind of said something, and the maid of honor cried. And Sophie said I should make it up to her."

"By looking much, much better in the same dress?" Hardyston questions. Despite it being overly ruffled and a pink color that in no way matches the green shade of Par's gem, it looks good on her. It's certainly different than the dark shirt and pants Par usually wears.

"You really think I look good?"

Hardyston uses a flower pin to pull back and fasten Par's hair so that her gem is fully visible. His hand brushes the stone as he pulls back. "And now you're perfect."

* * *

"Yep, that's a bomb."

Sophie holds the vase out as far away from her as she can. She tries to stay calm as Hardyston and Elio agree that the explosive is motion activated.

Nate is trying to keep it together too. "All right," he says. "What's the plan. Elio?"

Elio looks serious. "How fast can you run?" he asks.

Sophie makes them all leave. Alone in her apartment, she slowly raises the vase above her head. She lets it go, dashing for the door. The force of the explosion slams into her body.

Elio finds her gem in the wreckage. To the team's great relief it is unharmed; it looks perfect and whole, once the dust is wiped off of it. They take it back to Nate's apartment and set it on the couch and for the days it takes Sophie to regenerate, Nate refrains from griping about the team taking over his home. They want to watch over the gem, keep it safe, be there when she reforms. And they all are.

Sophie reforms looking much the same. Then they plan the funeral.

Each member of the team, with the obvious exception of Sophie, eulogizes her, standing next to a pedestal holding an array of broken shards they're passing off as her gem. Sophie stands close by, her features shapeshifted so that she is unrecognizable. She, however, recognizes a mourner: the variscite who goes by Marcus Starke.

"Brilliant grifter, even better forger," Sophie describes to the team later, in the briefing room. "We first met in London, in the 1930s." At this detail, Hardyston, Par, and Elio exchange looks, impressed. While gems live much longer than humans, none of the three of them are older than thirty. Sophie continues, "The last time I saw him was the nineties. We did the Copenhagen job in '97, the Berlin Polytech job in '98."

"Are you saying that you saw other teams before us?" Hardyston asks.

Elio also jumps at the chance to tease Nate. "What bugs you more, is it the fact that this gem was with Sophie first, or that he outsmarted you?"

"Wait, was he with Sophie or like _with Sophie_?" Par hisses to Elio.

"Pargasite!" Sophie protests. "Whether I not I fused with the gem is not the point! Starke doesn't keep a permanent crew. He specializes in whiz mobs." Par, Elio, and Hardyston allow her to return the conversation to the con, much to her and Nate's relief.

In the end, they achieve their goal- a twice-stolen painting returned to whom it belonged. Starke shakes his head. "The Sophie Devereaux I knew, she'd never waste her time like this. What happened to her?"

Sophie looks at Starke and realizes he's right. She's not the Sophie Devereaux he knew, the Sophie Devereaux with whom he's stolen art with ten years before and then danced with on a private plane, victory and wine blurring their edges until they became something new. Sophie shakes her head. "Well, she shattered. Remember?"

"Starke was right," she tells Nate later. "I'm not Sophie Devereaux anymore. I haven't been for ages." She looks at Nate and smiles sadly. "You're the closest thing I've ever had to a real friend, and you don't even know what kind of gem I am."

"So tell me."

"Let me finish burying Sophie first. Sweep away the shards of the rest of them, until all that's left is me. Just me."

* * *

Fifteen minutes after a mysterious phone call that Par is in trouble, Nate and Sophie arrive at Par's place. Sophie types a code into the keypad and smirks when she's right.

"You're not going to tell me what it is, are you?"

"Sure. It's the name of my gem."

Frowning, Nate follows her inside. They, and Elio and Hardyston when they arrive, comb through Par's timetables, security codes, and schematics, in awe that she would take on the world's toughest security system on her own. Quickly Nate pulls together a plan- Sophie will walk Hardyston into the Wakefield building while he and Elio go find this 'Archie'.

"So… Let's go steal a Pargasite."

On the roof of the building across from Wakefield, Nate finds that he knows the caller after all: Archie Leech, the world's greatest thief. But he doesn't anticipate Archie's declaration that he's Par's father.

"Of course," he qualifies, "not a real father. She is a gem. But it was New York city, twelve years ago. The little scamp lifted my wallet. She came from one of the kindergartens in the Midwest, I think. You've heard of the lawsuits, careless management and all. Many gems injected incorrectly or had prolonged incubation- I suspect Par didn't emerge until after her kindergarten had been shut down, maybe even gone bankrupt. When I first met her, she was wild, dangerous to herself and to other. But she had the gift. I made her, honed her. My perfect thief."

"You know, she was broken," Nate says. "You understand that? Par was broken."

"What should I have done? Taken her home?" Archie takes out his wallet and shows Nate the pictures inside. "I'm human, Mr. Ford, I have a human family: a wife, grandsons. You know Par. You know she wouldn't fit in." Nate looks away. It hits him sometimes that he's the only human on the team. Some times, like now. He walks away, busies himself consulting with Hardyston about the security system.

Although Archie doesn't understand- or agree with- the team's way of doing things, it works. Dr. Hannity is going to prison. Archie's family is safe. Archie extends the compliment to Par, and tries to say the other thing he's been thinking. About how if Mr. Ford can build a family with humans and gems together, maybe Archie could have too. Should have.

"It's okay," Par says, hugging him. "I wouldn't fit in with the human family."

"You didn't need it anyhow. You went out and made your own."

* * *

Par doesn't like this client, _Ashley_. She doesn't like her in a way that Sophie thinks she should tell Hardyston about. And she tries, but it's not easy.

"Okay. So, the thing is, I think that maybe I might be having feelings. Like weird, weird feelings, for…" Hardyston waits, listening. Par can't do it. She looks at the bar in front of them. "Pretzels."

"Pretzels," Hardyston repeats quietly, nodding. "Okay. Well, I know that you've never eaten food before, but if you ever wanted to try, you could. And pretzels are right here, when you want them."

* * *

Hardyston's plan to get close to Damian Moreau is to pretend to be the kitchen manager. Elio's plan is to tell them his name.

"Me? I'm Bloodstone."

Hardyston isn't pleased with the situation one bit. The only good thing about it is that because he's a gem, he can't be drowned. By the time they return to the team, he's furious and hurt as well as soaked through.

"Elio worked with Moreau back in the day. A lot. Tell them." Hardyston gives a darker glare than Elio thought him capable of.

"We've been chasing Moreau for six months, and you didn't tell us. Why? Cause you're protecting him?" Nate's agitated, his questions coming quick and spilling over Elio's answers.

"I'm protecting you!" Elio yells, silencing him. "Last time I checked, that's my job. We're out of our league, Nate. Every one of Moreau's men has innocent blood and shards on their hands. It's what they're made for."

"Illegal kindergartening?" Nate asks, much more quietly.

"He isn't the first guy we've gone up against who has custom-grown security quartzes," Elio says, looking away.

"But he made… you," Par whispers as she realizes it. Elio tenses as if the truth is a force that hits him. The truth that he was made to serve Damian Moreau.

"Chapman's one too, isn't he?" Hardyston asks. He's seen the outline of a gem on the man's shoulder through his shirtsleeve, but hadn't been able to identify it.

Elio nods once. "A heliotrope. Better known as a bloodstone. But that's not the point. Every one of these guys is worse than me. You think you know what I've done? The worst thing I ever did I did for Damien Moreau. And I- I'll never be clean of that."

"What did you do?" Par asks, and her voice is so soft.

Elio raises his eyes to look at her, his expression in pain and pleading. "Don't ask me that, Par. Because if you ask me, I'm gonna tell you. So please, don't ask me." Par looks at him and nods, accepting.

Somehow, Elio gets his team through it safely. Somehow, they win.

* * *

They win twice- once by chasing Damian Moreau to San Lorenzo, once by trapping him there. After Vittori's inauguration, Nate admits the team did well.

"We are," Sophie says. "We're a team. Finally. Partners in crime."

"Partners?" Nate inquires. Not long ago, Sophie gave him her name for Christmas. Since then, the two of them have felt different. Good different.

"Together," Sophie says. "See, you know, when we met, all that running and chasing, you know it was romantic but it wasn't real. This is real. Friends."

"Friends then," Nate agrees, and offers that they share a drink.

They share a drink. Sophie enjoys a good vintage even if gems are not affected by alcohol. When Nate put his hands on her waist to dance to a song only he can here, she enjoys that too. Nate's hotel room is not much for floor space, but they dance. Nate lets Sophie take over the lead, and closes his eyes. He hums.

"Are you trying to fuse with me?" Sophie teases gently. "That's not possible."

"No, no, no. I know. But we can have this." Sophie smiles and Nate twirls her and although there are still two of them, Sophie's never felt closer to someone.

* * *

Being unable to suffocate doesn't make it more pleasant to be buried alive. It might even make it worse, because you could be there forever.

But the team will find Hardyston. Of course they will. "Okay, Hardyston, you're doing great," Par coaches. "Just tell me when you hear a siren. We are going to find you."

He does, and they do. They know what cemetery he's in, just not what grave. Elio knocks out Javier without a second thought. When Hardyston hears Par standing above him, he tells her to dig, and she does, until the shots start coming. Javier's gotten back up. Cursing, Par dives for cover.

"Hold on Hardyston," she counsels over the phone. "You have to make it through this." Javier keeps shooting. He aims some of the bullets down into Hardyston's coffin, yelling that he'll kill their friend. Sophie and Nate shriek, terrified for him. Par and Elio, hiding behind the same gravestone, look at each other with determination. "You're my friend," Par says into the phone, "and I need you." Then, Par and Elio act.

As soon as they clasp hands, it's easy. Their determination to save Hardyston becomes one determination, and their bodies become one body. The fusion shows how in sync they are; she's perfectly humanoid, no extra limbs or features. The gems on her forehead and palm have gone dark, nearly black.

"Do you hear me, Hardyston?" she says. "I need you!" Then she drops the phone. With both hands she summons her weapons: Par's ropes from one gem, and Elio's knife from the other. She holds them together and they glow and become a chain blade: a _kusarigama_ with a wicked sickle. The fusion steps out from behind the gravestone, holding the sickle handle with one hand and spinning the chain in a circle with the other. Javier hardly has time to gape in awe at the new being before being taken down.

The fusion opens the casket with her immense strength, flinging the lid of it over her shoulder somewhere. It's empty. No, it's not empty; Hardyston's gem lies in the middle. The fusion reaches in and picks it up, turning it over in her hands. It's undamaged. Javier's bullets dispelled Hardyston's form but didn't hit his gem. The fusion holds the gem to her chest, relieved.

Sophie asks, "Is he…"

"He'll be fine."

Nate looks unsettled. "And you…"

"I'm Pargasite and Heliotrope," the fusion says. "Flint."

Nate still looks uncomfortable, but Sophie smiles, and says, "I'm glad Hardyston is alright. You'll watch over him, won't you Flint."

"Of course," Flint says.

Flint goes to Elio's apartment. For days she stays there with the Hardystonite gem, watching over it. When he reforms, Flint's sitting on the couch with Elio's laptop, the gem on the cushion next to her. When it begins to glow, Flint puts the computer down on the table and watches the gem.

Hardyston forms, looking disoriented. He flails his arms out, grateful he's no longer confined to a coffin, but not understanding where he is. Flint hushes him.

"You're okay. You're okay. I'm right here."

This seems to calm Hardyston, until he does a double take at Flint. "You- who are you?" he asks in alarm.

"Oh," Flint says. She unfuses, glowing and then resolving into Elio and Par.

"You fused," Hardyston says dumbly.

"We tried to protect you," Par says. Tears form in her eyes. "And when we couldn't we-"

"We watched over you," Elio finishes. He gives Hardyston a hug. He says, "Never do that again. Don't do that again."

"Cool. I won't," Hardyston agrees.

Par hesitates, then steps up and takes a turn hugging Hardyston.

"You did it," he tells her, cradling her head with his hand. "I'm safe now."

* * *

Par hates the weighted boots. After an hour trying to get the rhythm of the mark's limp, she explodes with frustration. "They're weighing me down," she complains to Hardyston. "Quick and light. That's how I survive. You slow me down you shatter me."

"Hey, hey, hey," Hardyston soothes. He holds Par's face with both hands. "You had to be quick because you were alone. But you're not alone anymore. You have a team, you have me. And I got you. Let's try something different, okay? Now, getting the rhythm is kind of like dancing. You remember how it was when we took down Moreau?"

"Mmm." Par smiles slightly, the ghost of her smile when they'd escaped the exploding train car and she'd announced she wanted pretzels. But they didn't eat when they got back to Hardyston's apartment. They talked, they kissed, and they danced. And, for the first time ever, they fused.

"You remember that?" Hardyston asks. Par tries to. It had felt good, fulfilling. So unlike her more recent fusion with Elio, because her and Hardyston's fusion, Prehnite, wasn't for a reason, it was just that they had been safe and together and they cared about each other. "Now, just follow me," Hardyston says as she starts to get that feeling back, and guides her to stand on his toes. "Just move with me."

He hums for her as he guides her through the steps. They don't mean to fuse, but as they hold each other and try to synchronize themselves, it's a natural result. Prehnite laughs quietly when they find themself on the dance pad in Par's boots. They continue the humming and dance through the steps again and again until they can do it with all four of their eyes closed. The computer beeps that they've succeeded. Prehnite sighs deeply and unfuses.

"Got it?" Hardyston breaths in Par's ear.

"Got it," she whispers back.

* * *

When Par says, "Teach me to like stuff," Elio says he doesn't have time. But ten minutes later he's placing a plate in front of Par.

"It's just food," she says. "We don't need it."

On the other side of the counter, Elio stands with his arms crossed. "It's not just food, alright? Some gems never give food a second look because they don't need it, but not me. I see art." Par squints at the sandwich he's given her, trying to see what he's describing.

"When I'm in the kitchen," Elio continues, "I'm creating something out of nothing. You know what I mean? And sometimes, I crush it, sometimes, it's crap, but either way, it makes me feel something. Needing, not needing it- sustenance has nothing to do with it."

Par's eyebrows scrunch over her eyes. "So it makes you feel… what?"

"Just, feel."

"Feel. Okay." She's disappointed that he can't explain any better.

"You know, I didn't feel anything for a long time, and Toby taught me how to cook, and after he did, I started to feel stuff again. This is my art, Par. It's like letting someone else in your head just for a second." Elio pauses, maybe hearing what he's just said.

Par fiddles with the top slice of bread, looking under it. "You could," she says. "You could show me."

Elio should say no. He needs to get back to the culinary institute, he has his students, he has the con. But for some reason, when it's Par, he never says no.

"Okay," he says. He looks at the people in the brew pub behind her and adds, "lets go into the back."

He carries the plate, and they go into the Leverage offices. It's quiet, with Hardyston at the cooking school and Nate and Sophie with the mark. Elio puts the sandwich down on the counter.

Elio takes Par's hands. His fingers tingle. When they don't fuse immediately, he begins to dance, steady and rhythmic. Par closes her eyes as she moves with him and around him, graceful on her feet. He moves his hands to her waist, she leans her weight in to him. It happens as he begins to raise her for a lift. The fuse together, and Flint blinks her eyes open.

Flint pulls the plate towards herself. What Par had seen as a sandwich is now a marriage of fresh lettuce, juicy tomato, and precisely broiled pancetta. The thin, crispy crust of the bread roll crinkles as Flint curls her fingers around it. She brings it to her mouth and Par was right, it's nothing they need, but Elio is right too, because he's made something out of the nothing.

"I feel it," Flint whispers.

After she chews and appreciates and swallows a second bite, she unfuses. Par stands in front of the counter, and Elio stands behind her.

"Now you try," Elio says. She does. And even as Elio walks around to stand on the other side of the counter from her, she can feel what he's feeling, because she can taste how he's feeling.

"I feel it," Par says.

* * *

Hardyston buys a restaurant.

For Elio. He buys a restaurant for Elio. And he tells him so, when he shows up in Portland.

"I bought the microbrewery." "I'll get you a full background. Oh, sorry, man, that's a menu for the pub." "But I mean, do you have any suggestions?" "It's good, right?"

Elio doesn't listen right. Then, weeks later, Sophie asks him what he's going to do after all of this.

"Always wanted to open up my own restaurant," Elio admits. "Now I'm probably gonna get stuck making sure Hardyston's doesn't go out of business." He makes this sound like a major annoyance, but maybe it isn't all that bad. He missed making fun of Hardyston when the team took a break after the job at the dam, and even kind of missed Hardyston making fun of him. Maybe, although it wasn't what he'd planned, running a restaurant with Hardyston would be even better than running one alone.

Maybe Hardyston even knew that somehow.

When that job is finished, Elio finds Hardyston, pulls him into the back office where he and Par had shared a sandwich.

"What's up, man?" Hardyston asks.

"Did you buy the brewpub, for me?"

"Did I buy the brewpub for you?"

"Don't repeat me, Hardyston, answer the question," Elio growls, exasperated already.

Caught in the act, Hardyston tries to stall another way. "I- well, they thought, that they could, uh."

"Who's they?" Elio asks. He knows for a fact this is more painful than pulling teeth.

Hardyston swallows. "Prehnite," he admits. "It was Prehnite's idea."

It's been a year or so since Par and Hardyston started spending some of their downtime between jobs fused. The first time Elio had met Prehnite, Hardyston had had both Elio and Par over to play videogames. Hardyston suggested fusion as a solution to only having two controllers; Par quickly agreed. Even at the time, Elio had suspected that they were looking for an excuse to introduce him to Prehnite. What he couldn't figure out was why.

Elio's impression of Prehnite had been of a person who was strange, and kind, and eager to please. And then they'd bought Elio a restaurant.

Elio tries to make sense of it. "You said you hadn't talked to Par about the future."

"I didn't need to, man. Prehnite just made plans and... I mean, are they okay?"

"What?"

"The, the plans, man. That next time we take a break from the work it's not a break from each other. You and me and Par. Prehnite and you. Flint and me."

"Damnit Hardyston." It's what Elio says when he's at a loss for words.

"And... me-and-you and Par."

"What are you asking." Elio tries to look murderous, but for the first time in his existence, does not succeed.

Hardyston holds out his hand. "I guess, Heliotrope, I'm asking you to dance with me." He stands like that until Elio takes it.

A few minutes later, Par bursts in calling, "Hardyston, where'd you put the- oh." Gently, she closes the door behind her. She smiles, and curiosity dances in her eyes. "Hi," she says.

"Hi." The fusion of Hardyston and Elio doesn't look up as he greets her, entranced by his own two sets of arms. "Hi, Par," he repeats. "I'm Adamite, I think."

"Hi, Adamite." Par takes one of his large right hands and studies the palm. In it is Elio's gem, but it's not the dark green flecked with red Par's become familiar with over the years. It's a brighter, lighter green. She strokes it with the side of her thumb.

"Do you like it?" Adamite asks, and by 'it' he means 'me'.

"Yes," Par says. "Do you… do you think this will change things?"

Adamite uses two of his hands to cup Par's face like Hardyston did when he reminded her she wasn't alone anymore. "Change is okay," Adamite says. "Sometimes things get better or worse, but as long as we change together, that's what makes it okay."

"Promise me? That we'll change together."

"Of course we will. I promise." Adamite doesn't hesitate at all. About this, he is a consensus.

Par leans her head on his chest, and she can feel Hardyston's gem under her ear. "I promise, too."

* * *

They can't just do a job in D.C. They also have to stop an assassination and get arrested.

"Your 911 administrator wasn't the only hit today," Vance tells them. "The largest hospital in Washington D.C.'s senior gem healer was shattered in a suspicious car wreck. The second biggest hospital's, beat to shards in a mugging."

"That's what you do when you want to cripple the infrastructure of a city the day of a terrorist attack," Elio recognizes. Vance can't work fast enough to stop it, but he can point three criminals in the direction of an N.S.A. Mobile response intelligence unit.

Hardyston falls in love with the communications van immediately. "I've got every database," he says in awe, his gem wire plugged into the main computer. "Hard backdoors into most commercial systems, live feeds into every security camera on the grid. Man, if this wasn't such a gross violation of our civil liberties…"

"Where do we start?" Par asks.

Elio looks at both of the other. His expression has been hard and determined since he saw Vance. "We start with getting you two on a plane out of here. You didn't sign up for this. Trust me."

"And you? You're going to handle this by yourself?" Hardyston gestures to the system he's plugged into. "What are you gonna do, stab your magic knife into the screens? Nuh-uh, I don't think so."

"We agreed we all change," Par reminds Elio. "Better or worse. We change together."

Somehow, looking across the van at Par and Hardyston, Elio feels lighter. Like Flint and Adamite are holding him up. He concedes. He has to, now that these two have made up their minds. "What do they got on the gunman?"

Hardyston tracks the gunman to the crime scene. Par breaks through the crime scene into the abandoned lab. Hardyston squints into an old jar and is alarmed to find that it contains a gem, a seemingly whole hessonite. "Oh, this couldn't get any creepier."

Elio reads the jar's label. "Says 'Liddicoat Health Sciences Foundation'."

"The Foundation did privately funded government research on gems," Hardyston recalls. "Was founded the same year gems appeared on Earth, shut down about ten years later, 1916 or so. This lab was forgotten."

Par finds a case, vacuum-sealed. "You should see this."

"Do not tell me what's inside," Hardyston says.

But Par does. "Gem corruption, virally transmissible." Hardyston drags Par and Elio out of the lab in a panic.

"Stay focused," Elio tells him.

"I focused!" Hardyston exclaims. "Corruption damaged the minds of thousands of gems, and those were just the ones exposed to corrupting light. If whatever makes corruption transmissible by fusion is isolated, packaged in a virus, it can be spread. It can even be transmissible through the air like organic viruses. Who knows how many gems it could corrupt? How many humans those gem monsters will hurt?"

"You scared?" Elio asks.

"You're damn right!"

Elio grabs Hardyston's wrist, makes him look at him. "I'm not. I got the best thief and the smartest guy I know chasing this guy. You're the smartest man I've ever known, Hardyston. I need that mind to get me to him. Cause you know if I lay my hands on him, it's done."   
They discover a link between the assassination victims, and get an address. From the bomb connected to a pressure plate in Udall's front hall, they conclude that Udall is the terrorist they've been chasing. By tracking Udall's phone, they follow him to the subway.

"You're too late," Udall says when Par catches him, pulling a gun on her for good measure. Hardyston clears the train of passengers while the man rants. "Gems have to be corrupted, people have to die. It's the only way to make the government wake up! I warned them, an apocalypse is gonna happen- it's just waiting for some terrorist with the right equipment to find what I found. You can't stop this!" He holds up the wrist to which he thinks the briefcase bomb is handcuffed. It isn't there, of course. Par's already stolen it.

Elio takes down Udall while Par and Hardyston study the workings of the bomb. "The edges of the glass are wired," Hardyston tells Elio when he joins them. "We break that glass, it goes off."

Elio kneels and peels his glove off his right hand. With some effort, he uses the edge of his own gem to cut a circle in the glass, revealing access to the wires. He shoves the case back at Hardyston. "Shut it off."

Hardyston studies the wires, clips some. "The bomb part is down, but there's an aerosol failsafe," he says, anxiety chopping his words into stuttered syllables. "It's gonna spray gas full of his virus. There's enough in there to contaminate the air for the next nearest stops. It gets the city, at least. The whole city, every gem in D.C., corrupted."

A gunshot sounds and they dive for cover. Udall's gotten back up. Par, Hardyston, and Elio all look at each other. And they all reach for each other.

Like Flint, this fusion resolves into existence for the first time knowing exactly what they need to do. They summon Elio's blade from his gem, Par's rigging from hers, and hold them in front of Hardyston's as they resolve into a chain blade. All three gems are a pure, emerald green. Emerald uses their weapon to disable Udall again. At the same time, they pick up the briefcase. Multitasking is easy with four arms and four eyes.

Emerald runs out of the train car and into the subway tunnel. They toss the briefcase away from them, and, with their other pair of arms, strike at it with their chain blade. The blade connects with the briefcase in midair while a stream of electricity buzzes out from Hardyston's gem, down Emerald's arms, along the chain blade, and finally to its target. The smell of ozone clouds the tunnel as the particles of virus are ripped apart by the electricity.

The briefcase falls to the ground, no longer a threat. Emerald dispels their weapon and begins to laugh with relief. They chuckle until they glow and split into Par, Hardyston, and Elio, holding each other up.

* * *

The last con the five of them pull is like any other job. Faking shatters, misdirecting attention, sneaking into a server room. At the end of it, the team holds the ultimate list of bad guys who deserve it. With this prize, Nate closes one chapter of his life and begins another.

Slowly and deliberately Nate slides a ring onto Sophie's finger as he asks, "Will you marry me, Zirconia?" And when she says yes, she and Nate are ready to leave together.

"Promise me," Sophie says to Elio, "you'll keep them safe."

"Til the end of me," he promises without hesitation.

Nate looks at him. "You know, Elio, I'd say call if you need anything, but you never… never need anything."

Five years ago when they'd been brought together for one single job- no encores- Elio hadn't though he needed anything, either. But he'd been wrong. "Yeah, I did," he says, "And thanks to you, I don't have to search anymore." He feels it with certainty when he looks at Par and Hardyston. He'd emerged from the ground to serve Damian Moreau but now, with them, he knows he's found his purpose.

"You're the smartest man I know. Don't get cocky," Nate says to Hardyston.

"It's a little late for that," Hardyston jokes. He's not worried. He knows there'll never be a time he finds his ass in the fire that Flint won't pull it out.

"So you're really going, huh," Par says.

"How's that make you feel?" Sophie asks her.

"I think I'm okay with it." Par considers, then reaches for Hardyston's and Elio's hands. They hold hers. "Yeah," Par says. "I'm okay with it."

"That's why we can go," Nate agrees, and they do. Nate and Sophie go, and Emerald stays. They have work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> For pun purposes it is important to me that you know that emeralds are a type of beryl.


End file.
